Career
Success
Life
Goals
01
CRAFT
&
MASTERY
01
Reach
independently
trusted
senior
level
in
your
core
discipline
Be
the
person
a
project
can
be
handed
to
without
a
second
pair
of
eyes
.
That
means
owning
scope
,
timelines
,
trade
-
offs
,
and
the
consequences
of
the
call
you
make
.
Target
:
Lead
two
projects
end
to
end
without
oversight
·
Horizon
: 18
months
02
Ship
one
substantial
piece
of
work
every
year
A
tool
,
a
system
,
a
launch
,
a
body
of
research
,
a
published
redesign
—
something
with
your
name
on
it
that
exists
outside
your
employer
'
s
internal
wiki
.
Target
: 1
shipped
artefact
per
year
,
documented
publicly
·
Horizon
:
Annual
,
ongoing
03
Study
deliberately
instead
of
accidentally
Blocked
time
beats
good
intentions
.
Two
focused
hours
a
week
on
a
named
subject
—
a
framework
,
a
language
,
a
statistical
method
,
a
domain
you
are
weak
in
—
outperforms
a
year
of
skimming
.
Target
: 100
hours
of
structured
study
per
year
·
Horizon
: 12
months
,
repeat
annually
04
Learn
the
business
behind
the
craft
Understand
how
your
work
turns
into
revenue
,
savings
,
or
retention
.
Read
the
P
&
L
,
learn
the
unit
economics
,
and
know
which
number
your
team
is
judged
on
.
Target
:
Explain
your
company
'
s
revenue
model
in
two
minutes
·
Horizon
: 6
months
1 / 6
02
VISIBILITY
&
REPUTATION
05
Publish
consistently
,
at
a
pace
you
can
sustain
Two
pieces
a
month
—
an
essay
,
a
deep
-
dive
,
a
teardown
,
a
well
-
written
internal
doc
made
public
.
Consistency
builds
a
readership
;
occasional
brilliance
does
not
.
Target
: 24
published
pieces
per
year
·
Horizon
: 12
months
06
Speak
in
front
of
a
room
once
a
year
Start
with
a
local
meetup
,
a
company
all
-
hands
,
or
a
conference
workshop
.
The
point
is
not
the
stage
—
it
is
learning
to
compress
an
idea
until
an
audience
of
strangers
understands
it
.
Target
: 1
talk
or
workshop
per
year
; 3
by
year
three
·
Horizon
:
Annual
07
Build
a
body
of
work
that
arrives
before
you
do
When
your
name
is
mentioned
in
a
hiring
conversation
,
there
should
be
something
to
search
:
a
portfolio
,
a
repository
,
a
published
argument
,
a
community
you
helped
build
.
Target
:
A
current
portfolio
page
and
a
searchable
public
presence
·
Horizon
: 12
months
08
Keep
an
up
-
to
-
date
record
of
what
you
have
done
A
running
document
of
shipped
work
,
metrics
moved
,
and
problems
solved
.
It
takes
five
minutes
a
week
and
saves
a
week
every
time
you
negotiate
a
raise
or
rewrite
a
résumé
.
Target
:
Weekly
entry
;
full
review
every
6
months
·
Horizon
:
Ongoing
2 / 6
03
LEADERSHIP
&
IMPACT
09
Mentor
at
least
three
people
,
properly
Not
advice
over
coffee
—
a
real
relationship
with
regular
time
,
clear
goals
,
and
honest
feedback
.
Mentoring
is
the
fastest
way
to
find
out
whether
you
actually
understand
your
craft
.
Target
: 3
active
mentees
,
monthly
sessions
·
Horizon
: 24
months
10
Lead
something
that
crosses
team
lines
Own
a
project
that
requires
engineering
,
design
,
marketing
,
or
finance
to
agree
on
a
plan
.
Influence
without
authority
is
the
skill
that
separates
senior
contributors
from
leaders
.
Target
: 1
cross
-
functional
initiative
delivered
·
Horizon
: 18
months
11
Own
a
number
the
business
actually
reports
Attach
your
name
to
a
metric
that
shows
up
in
a
board
deck
,
a
quarterly
review
,
or
a
customer
dashboard
.
Being
accountable
for
an
outcome
changes
how
you
make
decisions
.
Target
:
Named
owner
of
1
tracked
metric
·
Horizon
: 12
months
12
Hand
off
work
cleanly
so
you
can
move
up
Documentation
,
a
successor
,
and
a
calm
transition
.
If
nothing
you
do
can
be
picked
up
by
someone
else
,
you
have
built
a
job
instead
of
a
career
.
Target
:
Every
major
responsibility
captured
before
you
leave
it
·
Horizon
:
Ongoing
3 / 6
04
FINANCIAL
INDEPENDENCE
13
Build
an
emergency
fund
of
six
months
of
expenses
Held
in
cash
or
a
high
-
yield
savings
account
,
not
investments
.
This
single
buffer
is
what
lets
you
turn
down
bad
roles
,
leave
hostile
environments
,
and
take
smart
risks
.
Target
: 6×
monthly
expenses
in
liquid
savings
·
Horizon
: 24
months
14
Save
a
fixed
share
of
every
paycheck
,
automatically
Automate
the
transfer
on
payday
so
the
decision
is
made
once
,
not
every
month
.
Save
on
gross
income
,
and
raise
the
percentage
with
every
salary
increase
.
Target
: 20%
of
gross
income
saved
·
Horizon
: 12
months
15
Use
every
tax
-
advantaged
retirement
account
available
to
you
Employer
match
,
pension
,
retirement
scheme
,
or
individual
account
—
unused
allowance
is
a
permanent
loss
,
not
a
deferred
one
.
Target
:
Full
annual
contribution
limit
,
every
year
·
Horizon
:
Annual
,
ongoing
16
Build
a
second
income
stream
from
your
expertise
Consulting
,
teaching
,
writing
,
a
small
product
.
The
goal
is
not
to
quit
your
job
—
it
is
to
prove
your
skills
hold
value
outside
a
single
employer
.
Target
:
Second
stream
covering
15%
of
monthly
expenses
·
Horizon
: 36
months
4 / 6
05
RELATIONSHIPS
&
WELLBEING
17
Keep
a
short
list
of
people
you
genuinely
stay
in
touch
with
Twenty
names
,
a
note
on
what
matters
to
each
of
them
,
and
a
reason
to
reach
out
every
quarter
.
Networks
decay
quietly
;
a
list
keeps
them
alive
.
Target
: 20
relationships
touched
each
quarter
·
Horizon
:
Ongoing
18
Do
one
unprompted
favour
a
week
An
introduction
,
a
referral
,
a
review
of
someone
'
s
work
,
a
useful
article
sent
to
the
right
person
.
Reputation
compounds
fastest
through
generosity
that
was
never
requested
.
Target
: 50
favours
per
year
·
Horizon
: 12
months
19
Protect
recovery
as
fiercely
as
you
protect
deadlines
A
fixed
end
to
the
working
day
, 150
minutes
of
movement
a
week
,
and
one
full
day
offline
.
Burnout
ends
more
careers
than
bad
performance
ever
does
.
Target
: 150
min
activity
/
week
; 1
offline
day
/
week
·
Horizon
:
Ongoing
20
Take
every
day
of
leave
you
are
owed
Unused
vacation
is
unpaid
work
you
volunteered
for
.
Book
the
time
at
the
start
of
the
year
,
and
treat
it
as
a
commitment
rather
than
a
reward
.
Target
: 100%
of
annual
leave
taken
·
Horizon
:
Annual
5 / 6
06
LEGACY
&
LONG
-
TERM
OPTIONALITY
21
Reach
the
point
where
you
choose
the
problems
,
not
just
solve
them
The
real
marker
of
a
mature
career
is
selection
:
you
get
to
say
which
opportunities
are
worth
your
time
,
and
which
are
someone
else
'
s
emergency
.
Target
:
Decline
work
on
principle
at
least
twice
a
year
·
Horizon
: 10
years
22
Leave
every
role
better
documented
than
you
found
it
Systems
,
decisions
,
and
context
written
down
.
It
is
the
least
glamorous
and
most
durable
contribution
you
can
make
to
a
team
.
Target
:
A
written
handover
for
every
role
you
exit
·
Horizon
:
Ongoing
23
Build
the
option
to
say
no
Twelve
months
of
runway
,
a
marketable
skill
set
,
and
a
network
you
can
call
.
Optionality
is
the
actual
definition
of
career
security
—
not
tenure
.
Target
: 12
months
of
financial
runway
plus
two
warm
opportunities
·
Horizon
: 10
years
24
Teach
what
you
know
where
it
can
be
found
Courses
,
open
-
source
documentation
,
essays
,
talks
,
internal
guides
.
Knowledge
that
stays
in
your
head
retires
when
you
do
.
Target
:
One
durable
teaching
artefact
per
year
·
Horizon
:
Annual
,
ongoing
6 / 6
